Friday, 21 February 2014

Ashoka's Dharma : Its interpretations and paradigms as gleaned from rock edicts; An article by Dr. G C Chauhan

ASOKA DHARMA: ITS
INTERPRETATIONS AND PARADIGMS AS
GLEANED FROM ROCK EDICTS

Dharma is one of
those Sanskrit terms that defy all attempt at an exact rendering into English
or any other language. This term has passed through several changes. My attempt
here is to briefly define and examine the Asoka ‘Dharma’ through the lances of epigraphic
traditions of Asoka’s times and explain the
paradigms of Dharmaas reflected in the edicts of Asoka
and the changes introduced over the time. The notion of dharma which has been depicted in Asoken epigraphic traditions time
and again in all-comprehensive, confusing and the same time difficult to define
or understand.

The term dharma is derived from root ‘dhr’ meaning to uphold to support and to
nourish.1 It is therefore, the conceptual result of a contemplative
empirical awareness by which the social, moral and material order of the world
is upheld and efficiently maintained. But, at a deeper level dharma is also the awareness of these
cosmic forces that hold things apart. Dharma
seems to be a notion of par-excellence of the indic philosophical universe.
Although it initially emerged in the Vedic
cosmological and social speculation but has been employed with preeminent
consistency by Jain, Buddha and Sikh systems of social and metaphysical
discourse and occupies a very central part in the world views of all the
streams of the Indic thoughts system. “An understanding of dharma is essential for the understanding of the world and man’s
place in it. Dharma not only relates
to the physical exteriority of manifested phenomena and the inner world of
sentient existence, but also to the interrelationship of the two in which moral
behaviour seeks to find meaning within the context of temporal flux and
contingency.”2 Thus the world in which we are living appertains in
significant manner to the world of our conscious thoughts, and the relivance of
its meaning and order is intimately associated with the perceptional frame of
observant mind.

However, the society
needs to follow the path of dharma,
the happy synthesis of moral and material values, for securing true welfare on
an enduring basis, with harmony between human being as also between human being
and rest of the creation. Since living species are part of the world, their
lives constitute an integral pattern of its rhythm. The world of human being
inner self as well as his outer physical life are meaningful and integrated.
The function of the dharma is to find out the parameters of this meaningfulness
and integration. Dharma is
decipherment and explication of the meaning of the world and human life. It
seeks to understand social as well as ontological ethies.3Dharma is, therefore, associated, on the
one hand with social life of an individual and his personal ethics, and on the
other with the perennial principles of truth and cosmic order-the Satya and the rta, the imperishable, the unsubtatable and the fundamental. The
seeking of dharma is to seek answers to certain fundamental queries
as follows:

What the world is? Who we are? What should we do? What is conducive
to happiness? What is not? etc. Thus seeking cannot be static, and the answer
to these queries can neither be finally stated nor fixed for all time to come.
The Mahabharat4 speaks
that dhrama
is extremely subtle, intricate and deep. At one level it is fundamental,
timeless and eternal, at the other, it is swifter than light. It evolves with
time and hence it is both absolute and dynamic. The Mahabharata further tells us that dharma is not a one-time revelation of fixed teleological precepts
but a record of the relative and temporal contingency of his existence. Manu
argues that ‘dharma’ is governed by
the four ends of life or aims of human Endeavour. As per the code of Manu the
uniqueness of dharma is truth and one
should not adept any violent and servile methods; thus the same dharma which is truth is also non
violence. He further interprets dharma
in very plain language. “Thus it is good to teach dharma to the world, but it should be
done without hurting people and using sweet and refined words. Manu Smrti5 speaks that dharmawhen violated, verily destroys, dharma when preserved, preserves, dharma,
alone can be helpful in establishing peace and harmony all over the
world. If we kill dharma, we
ourselves shall be killed”.

The Buddhist
tradition, explain dharma as Buddha’s doctrine or teaching, as in the well known formula
where one seeks refuge in the Buddha, the dhamma and the Samgha. Gautama Buddha advised monks during his first sermon at
Sarnath, “monks, I say that the dharma
is to be seen for oneself, is timeless, is come and see, going further, to be
actualized individually by the wise”6 The Buddhist tradition further
speaks of dharma having its four
meaning, features, teaching, scripture and things.7 Since the
fundamental concern of Buddhism was the process and the possibility of
deliverance from phenomenal life, and mainly concentrated on human existence.8
Buddhism was concerned with the
understanding the chains of causation, the transience of life, the
insubstantiality of things, the conditioned nature of existence and the
understanding of dependent origination.9 The main aim of Buddhism is
to free its followers from the cycles of birth and death and from the
suffering.10 Thus the notion of dharma which Buddha saw and then preached was not very different from what the
sages and seers of India prior to him had expounded. Thus the Buddhism was
grafted on the religious ideology that dated before the time of Buddha.
The Buddhism offered an opportunity to the monks and the lay followers to
pattern their social and individual lives as such as such ethical and spiritual
values that would conduce towards happiness and a state of passionlessness.

The literary
traditions of Jainism interpreted the word dharma
as signifying right conduct applicable for a monks particular station and stage
of life, a path of personal and social purification which ultimately leads to
all round spiritual welfare. Dharma
in Jain traditions includes both philosophy and religion, theory and practice
of good life, ascetic culture and ethical behavior. Therefore, as per jains
traditions, dharma liberate the soul
from all the impurities and ultimately it protect one from degradation and
downfall.11 Asoka left behind his Edicts propagating dharma, might long endure. Asoka wished that his contemporaries, particularly his own
peoples, to imbibe, and so too the future generations. Asoka
inscribed his message on ‘Pillar Edict” II, where he had made an attempt to
define or explicate the meaning of dharma.
He said, “The practice of Dharma” is commendable but what constitutes the
dharma, (these constitute the dharma,
viz) – little sin, many good deeds, mercifulness, charity, thankfulness and
purity.”12 Thus Asoka in his way, used
the word dharma that existed in pre-Buddhist traditions. Asoka
did not use the dharma in the sense
of duty specific to a particular class of persons or community. Even Asoka’s use of the terms made his own contemporary
translators render it differently.13Thus the dharma was applied to the idea and norms that maintained the social
and moral order. Besides good, virtue and truth, forever, since its inception
the word dharma was used to refer to
the customs and duties observed by people.

The Asokan Edicts
contain two forms of records: one relating to the good faith which he professed
as his dharma, and the other to the religious ideology which he propounded and
propagated. Here a question arises – how far was the religious ideology he
propounded and propagated consistent with the dharma professed by him? Thus the dichotomy between Asoka’s
dharma and Buddhism remained
debatable which drow my attention to this discourse, to revisit and re-examine
the contents of the Asokan Edicts in regard to his dharma. However, despite the plethora of references contained in
Asokan Edicts, historians hardly are unanimous in their arguments of such
debatable issue as Asokandharma. The plethora of reference to Asoka’s
dharma and his application in Edicts
assert that Asoka was a Buddhist, but, nowhere did
he speak of essentials of Buddhism such as four noble truths, eightfold path
and the notion of Nirvana. But, what Asoka called dharma and propagated among his subject,
was not Buddhism. If dharma of Asokan
Edicts was not Buddhism, what was it?

Historians and
scholars of religions have offered different interpretations of Asoka’s
dharma. J.F. Fleet argues that
Asoka’s dharma was a form of Rajadharma consisting in the
politico-moral principles such as those embodied in the Great Epic,14 and S.J. Heras calls it as Brahmanism.15
J.M., Macphail16 is of the view that “Asoka dharma was nothing new but
Hinduism” D.R., Bhandarkar, is of the opinion that Asoka dharma can be considered as upasaka
Buddha dharma and propounded the theory of secular Buddhism. He
states that Asokadharma
comprised such principles of Buddhism as had a universal appeal and
applicability.17 But a couple of scholars like E. Thomas and Rhys
Davids negated Bhandarkar view on the basis that Asokan edicts did not contain
the theory of four noble truth, eight fold paths and Nirvana.18 D.R. Bhandarkar argues that Asoka held a
status intermediate between an upasaka
and a bhiksu monk is debatable. He
came to this conclusion by interpreting the evidence of the visit to the Sangha as an indication of Asoka’s
temporary stay in the community as a monk,19 but visiting to the Sangha does not proves Asoka’s as
Buddhist monk, his visit to Sangha
might be simply political and social obligation and the part of his policy of
appeasement towards community. In B.M.Barua’s
view, “the Asokan Edicts which are Buddhist in spirit, describes Asoka
as a ruler and the monk”.20 But we do not find the slightest
suggestion as to his withdrawal from the world. The political philosophy of ancient
India speak of the king who was a active functionary and the final authority
and the fountain head of the state not monk or sage. There were only two
courses open to him king was either to rule or to abdicate. Some scholars
believed that “Asoka was a Brahmanist and not a Buddhist, thy argue that Asoka dharma was in fact only Brahmanic
notion, in the wide range of application.21 The view has been expressed that Asoka was adherent of
Jainism.22 But, if he was a jain, he would have mentioned the Tirthankaras or principles of Jainism. N.K.Sastri
states that “Asoka could make use of some well known
traditional idea of Brahmanism, which had still retained considerable
importance in that period. However, all this does not disprove the view that Asoka was a follower of Buddhism.”23 The
importance of Brahmanic tradition form an analysis of the Edicts seems
justified, however, one can hardly agree with his negative attitude towards the
interpretation of some words and terms from a Buddhist perspective.24
R.K. Mookerji, R.S. Tripathi and V.A. Smith consider Asoka dharma as universal religion, “the dharma of the edicts was not any particular dharma or religious system, but the moral law independent of any
caste and creed, the sara or essence
of all religion” and G.M. Bongard Levin,
too argues that the dharma of the
Edicts can not be identified with the Buddhist doctrine.25 No
religion can be called universal religion, we have to bear in mind that the
social, cultural, political and geographical variation while studying any
religious ideology, since no particular religion can not be a replica of other
religious ideology. RomilaThapar depicts that dharma was Asoka’s own invention and used it as device to solve the
political, social, religious and economic tensions prevailing during his time.
She argues that it may have borrowed from Buddhist and Hindu thought, but it
was in essence an attempt on part of the king to suggest a way of life, which
was both practical and convenient as well as being highly moral. It was
intended as a happy compromise for those of his subjects who did not have the
leisure to indulge in philosophic speculation.26Romila further
states that Asoka dharma as his own
to solve conflicts in the social fabric and the other tensions created by the
states of the mercantile community, the power of the guild in urban centre, the
strain of a highly centralized political system and the sheer size of the
empire”27 is to inject modern
idea in its nature and scope. But as dharma
always aimed at building up an attitude of mind in which social responsibility,
the behavior of one person towards another was considered of great relevance.”28The so-called
conflicts and tensions referred by Thapar are more imaginary than real,
we do not notice any positive evidence to show that the mercantile community,
guild and the centralized political system had created any menace to the society
of Ancient India. In fact, they provided greater strength and stability to it.
She has taken religion and philosophy as if they were antagonistic to each
other. V.C.Pandey rightly argues that Ancient India
had no religion without some philosophy. Asoka’s dharmaitself rested on the philosophy of Svadharma (one’s duty). So where is the
question of a compromise between religion and philosophy? Philosophy in society
and community was the pastime of leisure of the masses. It was always the
product of the deep sight and insight of a few intellectual peers.29
Although RomilaThaparacknowledged the debt of Asoka’s
dharma to Brahmanism and Buddhism, but ignored Jainism which
produced a great impact of Asoka’s dharma. Dharma, in its wider sense, had always been a non-sectarian
duty-oriented code of conduct for individuals and institutions. It was always
rooted in morality, steering clear of philosophical speculations. Its
fundamentals were the common property of all dharma.30 Thus it is wrong to consider it as Asoka’s device to solve the political, social, religious and
economic problems of his time.31

It is argued that “Asoka’s dharma was
the most appropriate way to bind together a vast and variegated society of the
empire and providing it with a cultural and spiritual value-system.”31
Thus the practicability, morality, simplicity and the harmonizing features of Asoka’s dharma
were its eternal contents and not Asoka’s innovative
intents.

Thus we can surmise
that Asoka grafted his dharma on one of the branches of already existed tree of religious
ideologies in early India. In fact, dharma
policy of Asoka was his deliberate political policy
of appeasement towards non-Buddhist sect like Ajivikas, the jains, Brahmanism and other who remained active
during Asoka’s time. It was, therefore, basically an
exercise to restrain all factions from tormenting trouble, and he could not
afford the growth of tension and conflict in a multi-religious society of early
India.

It would be of prime
importance to re-examine the contents of the Asokan Edicts in regards to the
paradigms of Asokadharma. B.M. Barua, states that treat it as a paradigm of Rajadharma, or as paradigm of Buddhism-upasaka – dharma, or even as a paradigm
of universal religion, this position
remains and unaltered, KautilyaArthasastr speaks of Rajadharma which was based on the notion of dandaniti33 supported by the science of wealth (varta), both elements of Rajadharma were/are indispensable for
the survival of any king or state. Kautilya further argues that to uphold the
social customs; general principles of law of equity by the king. The
Brahmanical traditions mention that king supreme duty is to pleases his subject
and the king and his subjects are inseparable and he should always give
priority to the good of his subject.34 The Kalinga war described in terms of
remorse and poignant grief by Asoka
himself in Rock Edict XIII35 involved for so small an area the
slaughter of a hundred thousand, the enslavement of half as many more and the
death and suffering of yet more among whom were Brahmanas, Sramanas,
women and children. It was simply his remorse over the slaughter and suffering
of the innocent people. Asoka
assured paternal care and kindness to the people of Kalinga. The Asoka’s notion
of paternal treatment to all his subject was in fact the Brahmanic concept, in its wide range of application. He applied the
doctrine of ‘natal debt to the relation of king and subject and of the king and
his officers. He discharges his duty to all living beings by righteous rule;
and the officers discharge their debt to their master by faithfully carrying
out his beneficent intentions towards the people. This indebtedness extends to
all men, like that of a father to his children. Asoka
stresses upon each and every constituent of the state and society to follow its
dharma. The ruler and the bureaucracy were the two
indispensable wheels and elements of the Mauryan state. Asoka’s
personal religions might be Buddhism, but his Rajadharma forbade him to discriminate between the Buddhist and the
non-Buddhist. That is why, he assures his subject through his Edicts that he
respects and gives gifts to all religious sects, and Brahmana. “The beloved of gods, reverenus people of all (religious)
sects, whether (wandering) ascetics or householders with gifts and various
kinds of reverence as that-what is it? There should be a growth of the essence
in all sects. By doing thus one promotes one’s own sect and at the same time
does good to other sect”36 Again the notion of Rajadharma forced Asoka to abolish restrictions on certain sections
of society to live only in demarcated area, now could live anywhere in his
empire, irrespective of their caste and creeds: “The Beloved of the Gods
desires everywhere – may all the sects live or devil. For they all desire
sect-control and mental purity. Man, however, is possessed of various impulses
and attachment.”37 The enjoyment of freedom of settlement for all
sects was part of a general environment of communal amity that Asoka
wished to foster. For such amity, Asoka regarded
self-restraint, especially in speech. He advocated a mutual dialogue by which
the different sects should all prosper together. Thus Asoka
undertook several philanthropic works to translate his wishes into practice,
not only in his empire but also in the border regions and outside his empire.
Rock Edicts II speaks of medical aid where medicines were not available were
imported and planted medicinal, dug wells and planted trees for man and
animals.38 Asoka R.E. XII speaks of the stryadhyaksha-mahamatras who were directed to protect the interest
of the women folk,39 doing of justice to his subject is the supreme
duty of the king. Asoka’s main ambition was to win
the support and affection of all men; and followed the policy of appeasement
towards his subject by adopting several philanthropic works during his time. He
depute those officers to deal with the subjects who were not harsh in their language
not fierce in their nature but were of winsome cordiality.40 He
appointed a special class of dharmamahamatra,
to look after Brahman and Snamanas while they were carrying on
their noble missions.41 He liberally helped them with alms and gifts
and honoured them in various ways. He tried to persuade them to co-operate with
one another for their healthy growth in knowledge and matters essential so that
they might be better equipped for the great work before them. Thus these
philanthropic works were the need of the time.

We come to know from the RE V42 that king Asoka dedicated four beautiful cave – dwelling to the Ajivikas, in the Khalitika hills which
can be treated as Asoka’s policy of appeasement
towards non-Buddhist. However, these royal edicts, whose aim was to impress the
subjects the idea of equality pursued by the king, but real situation was
sometime quite different from that depicted in the Edicts. The certain Edicts
of Asoka’s stresses upon various social and state obligation towards the subjects
such as, proper treatment towards slaves, servants, parents, relatives,
friends, acquaintances, Brahmana,
Sramanas etc.43 giving proper treatment and respects to parents,
Brahmanas, Sramanas slaves and
servants was not the innovation of Asoka’s it is as old as our literary
traditions, so followed the established norms. In fact, all these referred
duities were shared by the ancient state and was a part of Rajadharma.

The DhauliSepanate RE I, speaks of applying balm to the
wounds of the people of a devastated Kalinga, Asoka emphasizes his Rajadharma to treat those people as his
children, assures them of his kindness and intense desire to see them happy and
well in this life and hereafter. The king Asoka directed his bureaucrats to
rise above lethargy, rashness, anger and other view and see to it that no one
was imprisoned need or tortured without reason.44 Asoka was the
victims of the guilt, after the Kalinga war and his guilt forced him to apply
the balm to the wounds of the people of ruined Kalinga. Asoka
seems to be one of the few politicians of the world, who realized that
propaganda is more important than legislation in matter relating to the
people’s inclination and sentiments. He adopted different ways to propagate his
dharma. RE I reveals us that he prohibited the killing of those animals and
birds which neither eatable nor were of any utility.45 But the killing of animals remained as use of the
daily practice. Asoka confession regarding the
killing of thousands of animals for royal kitchen previously is remarkable, but
during his time this killing was minimized
to three lives only. King Asoka was very critical of certain popular
ceremonies, such as Samajas, religious gathering where animals were
slaughtered for sacrifice, and stopped vihara-yatra
and Asoka personally contacted people exchanged views on dharma, replying their question, the Edict further informs us that
he replaced vihara-yatra by dharma-yatras.46 Asoka took
administrative measures to propagate his dharma-yatras.46 Asoka took
administrative measures to propagate his dharma
by appointing Dharma mahamatras whose
main duty was to ensure the growth of dharma.
Appointing separate cadre of officers for the prorogation of a particular
religion was not in the interest of any state which ultimately proved a heavy
economic burden and heavy economic losses to the state. But it is not fair to
designate them as a type of priesthood of dharma,47
as RomilaThapar argues. Priest were only Brahmanas, had their classified
literature and ritualistic expertise. But the dharmmahamatra were the bureaucrate belonged from any section of
society for administrative and religious purposes. The Pradesikes and the Nagara –
Vyaraharikas were divested exclusively to the Rajukas48 to dispense uniform justice, granted three
day’s respite to convicts sentenced to death. The idea behind this respite was
to give sometime to those convicts to prepare themselves mentally for death and
make their last wishes known to their families. To expedite the dispensation of
justice, he directed his reporters to call on him any time whether he was in
the dining room or harem on his private Chamber or on horse-back or in
pleasure-garden.49Since the propaganda of Dharma was the prime concern of Asoka,
the bureaucracy was involved in the propagation of religion. The involvement of
bureaucracy for preaching religion might have resulted heavy administrative
losses to the state.

The paradigm of upasaka
dharma is clearly reflected in Asokan Edicts which denote – the householders
included in a religious community as lay adherents the followers of a sect of
the Sramanas or the Brahmanas or jain.50 Each
sect had its own doctrinal tradition, and the upasakas of a particular sect were supposed to believe in whatever
was embodied in such a tradition. The upasakas
were mere householders and their lives were regulated by certain social customs
and usages, certain rules of decorum and conduct, and certain law of the land
enforced by the state.51B.M.Barua rightly argues that Rajadharma was primarily concerned with secular affairs of the
subject, it is ultimately reducible to upasak
or Grihastha dharma. Intact, there is
state sanction behind the rajadharma,
while the upasak-dharma had nothing
behind it. The common aim of both are the attainment of good and happiness here
and the attainment of heaven hereafter the attainment of Nirvana or Moksha is for
beyond their scopes. The chief interest of both centre round the three (topes)
ingredient of the upasaka-dharma such
as dana and sila are considered two means to the attainment of heaven.52
The six fold duties of a good householders are depicted in various Rock Edicts
of Asoka and their reciprocal relationship are as follows – the reciprocal
relations between the parents and son, teachers and pupil, husband and wife,
kinsmen and kinsmen, friend and friends, master and slaves and hirelings, the Sramanas and Brahmanas and the lay supporter. There is nothing to prevent one
from adding to these such other relation as those between king and subject, brother
and brother, brother and sister, neighbour and neighbour, the rich and poor
etc.53 Thus Asokan Edicts recommended the development of respect,
understanding the cordiality among these social units in the name of dharma-mangla and dharma dana and took several measures to end the discrimination on
the basis of religious ideologies. We must bear in mind that in outlining the
principles of pious social behaviors, he made use of some well known
traditional beliefs system, which had still retained considerable importance
during Asoka’s time.

The early Indian traditions speak of deep concern for
parents, teachers, servant and slaves etc, these traditions further state that
all beings should be viewed with friendly eye, it include proper conduct
towards neighbors, friends, relatives, servant and slaves, gave highest respect
to teachers.54Kautilya threatened penal against those who abandoned
their parents. Atharaveda aim at
achieving the good of all people including the Sudras.Kautilya further ordains that the king was like a father to
his subject and that the happiness of his subject was his happiness. Asoka
tried to re-affirmed this already existed concept.55Asokan edicts
refer six, greatest good, kindness, liberality, truthfulness and purity,56
they are as ancient as our Vedic traditions, these too find mention in them.

The notion of universal religion applied to Asokadharma by
scholars is vague and empty word of over glorification. His dharma was mainly based upon the
principle of toleration which was not invented by Asoka, it is as ancient as
our non-Buddhist traditions. Asoka being a shrewd
statesman, he understood the importance of controlling the non-Buddhist sects
and their lives and activities that is why he embarked on a policy of religious
tolerance, but the towards the end of his period his policy of religious
toleration was proved myth. Asoka patronized
Buddhism and actively interfered in the affairs of the Sangha. Asoka openly declares his
devotion to the Buddha the dharma and the Sangha.57The
tone of the “Schism Edicts”58 clear shows the emptiness and myth of
Asoka notion of religious toleration.

Conclusion:

The contents Asokan
Rock Edicts are nothing but apologies that reflected deeply ingrained sin and
guilt psychosis of Asoka that had after Kalinga war. These confessions reveal
the shattered psyche of the so called great king, who was tying to seek
comforts thereof. This was not a religion which historians have wrongly termed
as Asokadharma.
The term itself is a misnomer. Realistically analyzing the said observation, it
can be conclusively inferred that Asoka was only practicing the values of a
system of beliefs, that were already in existence, but had been ignored and
negated by him in lust of power. His reverting to imbibing of old values wrongly
construed as a new religion – Asoka Dharma,
whereas it is nothing best reinforcing the basic religions of the times – the Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism. It is a different matter that
he learnt the lesson the hard way. Perhaps it is only in this limited context
that the resultant transformation can be termed as a realization if it can be
termed one. In such an eventuality, then the basic religion – the ancient
Indian religions can also be termed as Asokadharma. But then ifs and buts do not
form or make history.